Perhaps it was a stroke of luck that the Albert Lea girls’ hockey team was forced to play its opening game of the Section 1A playoffs at Riverside Arena in Austin Friday against the Packers.

Due to a scheduling conflict at the City Arena, the No. 4 seed Tigers lost a home playoff game and were forced to play No. 5 seed, and two-time defending section champion Austin on the road. The last time Albert Lea was there, they handed the Packers (11-12-3) a 5-3 loss, while Austin was able to take a game from the Tigers at the City Arena less than a month earlier.

This time out Albert Lea kept Austin off the scoreboard and earned a 4-0 win behind the efforts of senior goaltender Kelli Hanson.

Hanson saved 47 shots en route to one of her strongest performances of the season.

“She had a fantastic game,” Tigers head coach Brian Blatti said.

Albert Lea took control of the game in the third period. Hanging on to a 1-0 lead the Tigers started to seal the victory with a power play goal from senior Katie Nelson. Sophomore Sophia Jepson slid a pass to Nelson who was above the circle and Nelson fired a shot past Austin goaltender Audrey DeVries 1 minute, 15 seconds into the third.

Madi Passingham made it 3-0 with her goal four minutes later and she iced it with her second goal of the game at 12:30 in the third.

Lauren Klick set Passingham up on bother her goals and scored one of her one goals in the second period to put the Tigers up 1-0. Klick and Passingham both accounted for three points on the night.

“Both lines were able to keep the pressure on them,” Blatti said. “We played good position, and because of our position and pressure we were able to capitalize.”

Both teams peppered the net with Albert Lea tallying 42 shots, but Hanson proved the better goaltender Friday.

“It’s been a while since they’ve been able to win two games against Austin,” Blatti said.

Albert Lea will move on to the section semifinals for the second consecutive year. The Tigers will face Northfield Wednesday in Owatonna at the Four Seasons Centre. Albert Lea is plenty familiar with the No. 11-ranked Raiders, having faced the Raiders twice this season. Northfield won each time, a 6-3 season-opening victory and a 2-1 win at the International Paper/Austin Merchants Holiday Tournament Dec. 31.

“If we can go in like we did tonight it should be a very good game,” Blatti said.

Albert Lea 4, Austin 0

Albert Lea 0 1 3 — 4

Austin 0 0 0 — 0

First period— no scoring.

Second period— 1, Albert Lea, Lauren Klick (Madi Passingham, Sophia

Jepson), 14:03.

Third period— 2, Albert Lea, Katie Nelson (Sophia Jepson), 1:15

(pp.). 3, Albert Lea, Passingham (Klick, Lauren Draayer), 4:51. 4,

Albert Lea, Passingham (Klick), 12:30.

Shots on Goal— Albert Lea 15-15-12 — 42. Austin 19-11-17 — 47

Goalies— Albert Lea, Kelli Hanson (47 shots, 47 saves). Austin,

Audrey DeVries (42 shots, 38 saves).